372 Berieu's — Prof. J. W. Gregon/s Dead Heart of Australia. 



he knows nothing of their distance, and probably thinks of them onl3' 

 as fire-flies with an unusually slow and steady flight. The roof 

 above him is bis highest heaven, which supplies him the rain that 

 drips heavily from the sodden foliage. The occasional fall of a dead 

 bird or a monkey is to him as much a gift from the gods as were the 

 sky-stones that supplied the Siberians and Eskimo with iron. The 

 change from the dark of night to the dull gloom that pervades the 

 lower forest at midday is clearly due to some change in or above 

 the roof. But the forest-dweller has no clue to distance, so he 

 flattens the whole universe above him into one solid floor, supported 

 by the tree-trunks, just as the Greeks projected all the star- zones 

 into one solid firmament. 



"Those who interpret the Kadimakara legend by the light of 

 a knowledge of tropical forests, naturally see in it either a 

 reminiscence of the time when the geographical conditions of 

 Central Australia were different from those that prevail at present, 

 or a reminiscence of the country whence the aborigines migrated to 

 Australia. If, therefore, the geologist can determine whether the 

 bones of the extinct monsters of Lake Eyre' correspond to those 

 described in the aboriginal ti'aditions, he can throw light on several 

 interesting problems. If the legends attribute to the extinct animals 

 characters which they possessed, but which the natives could not 

 have inferred from the bones, then the legends are of local origin. 

 They would prove that man inhabited Central Australia at the same 

 time as the mighty Diprotodon and the extinct giant kangaroos. If, 

 on the other hand, there is no such correspondence between the 

 legends and the fossils, then we must regard the traditions as due to 

 the habit of migratory peoples of' localising in new homes the 

 incidents recorded in their folk-lore. 



" The geologist may therefore hope to help the student of the 

 Australian aborigines by explaining some of their traditions, by 

 throwing light on their migrations, and by showing the date of their 

 arrival in Australia." 



Part ii (pp. 17-142) of Dr. Gregory's book is devoted to the 

 narrative of the expedition, which gives the reader a very good 

 insight into desert travelling with camels and native guides, and the 

 joys and sorrows of dust- and rain-storms, water-holes, and soakages, 

 and the finding of Diprotodon bones, etc., also some excellent traits 

 in character amongst the natives. 



Part iii (pp. 140-267) gives us an interesting description of the 

 Lake Eyre Basin, " The Dead Heart of Australia." the charm of 

 desert life, a good deal about the ■ Aboriginee ' of Lake Eyre, and 

 how the present condition of the lake has come to pass. 



Part iv (pp. 271-352) treats of the chances of the revival of the 

 ' Dead Heart ' of Australia, of its subterranean waters, the nature 

 of flowing wells, the great east-central artesian basin, why the water 

 rises in the Australian wells, and many wise observations, based 

 on careful geological study ; much also as to the error (common 

 throughout the country) of assuming the permanent nature of the 



' The Diprotodon, the giaat species of kangaroos, aad the Genyornis. 



